57 

181 


THE  PEAYEE  BOOK 


BASIS  OF  UNITY. 


BY  THE 

RIGHT  REVEREND  GEO.  D.  CUMMINS,  D.D., 

ASSISTANT  BISHOP  OF  KENTUCKY. 


PUBLISHED  BY  RESOLUTION  OF  THE 


CONVENTION  OF  THE  DIOCESE  OF  KENTUCKY. 


“ It  is  broad  enough  and  comprehensive  enough  to  embrace  men  who  differ  widely 
in  their  interpretations  and  definitions  of  Scriptural  truth”  p.  10.- 

‘ ‘ Is  it  presumption  then  to  claim  for  it  a fitness  to  be  the  Prayer  Book  of  all 
Protestant  Christendom , to  bind  together  in  one  great  Christian  family  those  now 
divided  and  discordant  ? ” p.  13. 


Oak  Street 
UNCLASSIFIED 


LOUISVILLE,  KT. 
1867. 


Re-printed  1876,  by  a Communicant  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church. 


THE  PRAYER  BOOK  A BASIS  OF  UNITY. 


Jeremiah  vi.,  16. — Thus  saith  the  Lord,  stand  ye  in  the  ways  and  see,  and  ask 
for  the  old  paths  where  is  the  good  way,  and  walk  therein,  and  ye  shall  find 
rest  for  your  souls.” 

“ The  immediate  present/’  says  the  latest  historian  of  Eng- 
land, “however  awful  its  import,  will  ever  seem  common  and 
familiar  to  those  who  live  and  breathe  in  the  midst  of  it.  In 
the  days  of  the  September  massacre  at  Paris,  the  theaters 
were  open  as  usual;  men  ate  and  drank  and  laughed  and 
cried,  and  went  about  their  common  work,  unconscious  that 
those  days  which  were  passing  by  them,  so  much  like  other 
days,  would  remain  the  dies  nefasti , accursed  in  the  memory 
of  mankind  forever.  Nothing  is  terrible;  nothing  is  sublime 
in  human  things,  so  long  as  they  are  before  our  eyes.  It  is 
only  when  time  has  done  its  work  that  such  periods  stand  out 
in  their  true  significance.” 

It  may  be  doubted  if  this  remark  is  true  of  the  age  in  which 
we  live.  The  impression  is  deep  and  profound,  in  every 
thoughtful  mind,  that  the  age  in  which  our  lot  is  cast,  is  no 
common  or  ordinary  age,  but  one  ever  to  be  remembered  for 
its  great  events,  its  strange  characteristics.  And  among  these 
it  may  be  doubted  if  there  is  any  peculiarity  more  marked, 
and  indeed  more  momentous,  than  the  spirit  of  change,  nay 
of  rash  and  reckless  innovation,  which,  under  the  noble  name 
of  progress,  deludes  the  minds  of  millions.  In  science,  in 
philosophy,  in  religion,  it  is  a time  marked  by  the  casting  off 
of  all  the  authority  of  the  past,  by  an  attempt  to  unsettle  the 
foundations  on  which  successive  generations  have  built  and 
dwelt  in  security  and  peace. 

In  the  sphere  of  religious  truth  this  tendency  finds  its  widest, 


4 


The  Prayer  Book 


its  most  alarming  development ; and  there  is  nothing  sadder 
on  this  earth  than  the  spectacle  of  a gifted  mind  like  Robertson, 
of  Brighton,  letting  go  at  one  time  all  the  precious  faith  of  his 
childhood,  and  sinking  into  the  darkest  abyss  of  doubt,  where 
the  only  ray  of  light  left  him  was  the  single  truth,  “ it  must 
at  least  be  right  to  do  right.”  How  precious  at  such  a time 
the  inheritance  of  a faith  whose  cardinal  doctrine  is  that  it 
admits  of  no  change,  but  is  like  its  great  author,  “ the  same 
yesterday,  and  to-day,  and  forever,” — which,  rejoicing  in  all 
progress  in  science,  in  philosophy,  in  freedom,  earnestly  denies 
that  in  divine  truth  there  can  be  any  progress,  and  contends 
steadfastly  for  the  faith  once  delivered  unto  the  saints,  whose 
utterance  ever  is,  the  old  paths  are  the  only  true  paths,  the 
only  safe  paths,  and  whose  voice  ever  sounding  amid  the  din 
and  strife  of  the  present  is,  “ stand  in  the  ways  and  see,  and 
ask  for  the  old  paths,  where  is  the  good  way,  and  walk  therein, 
and  ye  shall  find  rest  for  your  souls.” 

But  not  less  marked  than  this  is  another  peculiarity  mark- 
ing the  religious  character  of  our  age.  It  is  the  longing  for 
unity.  It  is  the  profound  feeling  that  the  present  state  of 
Christendom  is  not  what  its  Divine  Founder  designed  it  to 
be;  that  His  prayer  that  His  people  may  all  be  one,  has  never 
yet  been  realized,  and  that  the  spectacle  of  a divided  and 
warring  Christendom — Christ’s  seamless  robe  torn  and  rent — 
is  a grief  to  the  heart  of  the  Divine  Master,  and  a mighty 
hindrance  to  the  final  triumph  of  His  kingdom. 

Under  the  influence  of  this  conviction  men  are  yearning 
for  unity,  some  blindly  feeling  after  it,  and  willing  for  its 
attainment  to  sacrifice  even,  vital  truth.  Rejoicing  in  this 
tendency  of  men’s  minds,  and  desiring  to  add  my  mite  to  its 
safe  direction,  I propose  to-day  for  my  theme  the  fitness  of  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer  to  be  the  bond  of  unity , the  manual  of 
worship  for  all  the  confessions  which  divide  Protestant  Christen- 
dom, the  golden  chain  to  restore  the  ancient  unity  of  the  kingdom 
of  the  Redeemer . 

I.  And  first,  the  special  fitness  of  the  prayer  book  to  fulfill 
this  office  arises  from  the  fact  that  it  embodies , as  no  other  un- 
inspired volume  does , the  ancient  and  primitive  catholic  faith  of 
Christ's  Church:  not  catholic  in  any  corrupt,  or  perverted,  or 


A Basis  of  Unity. 


5 


exclusive  sense,  but  catholic  in  the  sense  of  the  once  univer- 
sal, unadulterated  faith  of  Scripture — the  faith  of  the  church 
when  its  heart  was  yet  warm  with  its  first  fresh  love,  ere  phi- 
losophy, falsely  so  called,  had  defiled  the  pure  well-spring  of 
sacred  truth.  And  this  old  and  undefiled  faith,  the  prayer 
book  embodies,  not  merely  in  confessions  and  creeds  and  arti- 
cles of  dogmatic  theology,  but  what  is  far  better,  in  devotional 
offices,  in  the  utterances  of  prayer  and  praise,  in  supplication 
and  adoration ; so  that  the  incense  of  its  devotion  is  fragrant 
with  the  most  precious  truth  of  God’s  holy  word.  This  goodly 
robe  of  the  bride  of  Christ  is  wrought  out  of  the  purest  gold 
of  divine  truth — its  warp  and  its  woof  are  alike  Holy  Scrip- 
ture. 

Let  us  look  more  closely  into  this  statement.  What  great 
cardinal  truth  of  the  ancient  primitive  faith  is  not  interwoven 
into  the  very  texture  of  the  Liturgy  ? 

1 . Is  it  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  the  Tri-unity  of  Father, 
Son  and  Holy  Ghost?  The  wondrous  thing  about  the  Liturgy 
here  is,  that  it  brings  this  sublime  verity  close  to  our  hearts 
in  all  its  blessed  practical  significance,  as  nothing  else  can 
bring  it. 

Says  one,  who  is  not  of  this  fold,  but  who  bears  his  admir- 
ing testimony  from  without,  “ Who  that  has  been  able,  in 
some  frame  of  holy  longing  after  God,  to  clear  away  the  petty 
shackles  of  logic,  committing  the  soul  up  freely  to  the  inspir- 
ing impulse  of  this  Divine  mystery  as  it  is  celebrated  in  some 
grand  Doxology  of  Christian  worship — as  the  Gloria  Patri — 
a hymn  of  the  ages  framed  to  be  continuously  chanted  by  the 
long  procession  of  times,  until  times  are  lapsed  into  eternity 
— and  has  been  lifted  into  conscious  fellowship  with  the  great 
celestial  minds  in  their  highest  ranges  of  blessedness  and  their 
shining  tiers  of  glory — who  has  not  known  it  as  being  at 
once  the  deepest,  highest,  widest,  most  enkindling  and  most 
practical  of  all  practical  truths  ? ” 

This  is  the  work  of  the  prayer  book — to  turn  a theological 
mystery  into  a precious  heart-truth  of  deepest  experience.  For 
as  soon  as  the  soul  of  the  worshiper  has  prostrated  itself  in 
deepest  humility  and  penitence  before  God,  and  received  the 
declaration  of  his  abundant  pardon  to  those  who  “ truly  re- 
pent and  unfeignedly  believe,”  it  rises  into  strains  of  loftiest 


6 


The  Prayer  Book 


adoration  in  a chant  which  has  borne  to  heaven  the  praises  of 
saints  for  1,500  years,  or  in  the  thrilling  accents  of  the  angefs 
song,  or  in  the  hymn  of  St.  Ambrose,  cries  with  the  Seraphim, 
“ Holy,  Holy,  Holy,  Lord  God  of  Sabaoth,  the  Father  of  an 
infinite  Majesty,  Thine  adorable  and  true  and  only  Son;  also, 
the  Holy  Ghost,  the  Comforter ! ” 

Then,  the  worshiper  turns  to  the  ancient  symbols,  and 
makes  his  confession  of  faith  in  a creed  so  primitive  and  pure 
as  to  be  rightly  called  the  creed  of  Apostles,  or  in  another, 
scarcely  less  ancient  and  venerable,  and  chants  “ God  of  God, 
Light  of  Light,  very  God  of  very  God  ! ” And  again  there 
is  heard  the  deep,  earnest,  plaintive  pleading  of  the  Litany, 
and  to  each  adorable  person  of  the  Godhead  does  the 
prayer  ascend  until  it  reaches  its  climax  in  “0,  Holy,  blessed 
and  glorious  Trinity,  three  Persons  and  one  God,  have  mercy 
upon  us  ! ” 

How  can  this  foundation  truth  ever  be  lost  out  of  the  heart 
of  a church  whose  unchanging  order  of  prayer  thus  enshrines 
it  in  the  deepest,  holiest  feelings  of  the  soul?  And,  if  one 
who  ministers  at  her  altars  should  prove  recreant  to  this  great 
truth,  how  keen  is  the  rebuke  which  he  must  feel,  as  forever 
he  is  constrained  to  unite  in  such  utterances. 

2.  Is  the  atonement,  the  vicarious  sacrifice  of  Christ  upon 
the  cross  for  us  men  and  our  salvation,  a vital  part  of  the 
Christian  system  ? Not  less  full  is  the  prayer  book  of  this 
than  of  the  Trinity;  not  in  the  formal  and  abstruse  terms  of 
the  theological  science,  serving  only  to  confuse  and  perplex 
the  mind  of  the  simple  believer  in  Jesus,  but  in  strong  cry- 
ings  and  pleadings  for  mercy  “ through  the  satisfaction  of 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.” 

Of  the  200  prayers  and  collects  of  this  book,  all,  with 
scarce  an  exception,  are  offered  in  one  name,  are  based  upon 
one  plea,  u through  the  merits  and  mediation  of  Jesus  Christ, 
our  adorable  Redeemer.”  Redemption  through  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb  is  the  key-note  which  floats  through  all  this  mingled 
chorus  of  praise  and  prayer.  “ Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away 
the  sins  of  the  world,”  is  the  Church’s  ever  repeated  cry  in 
the  “ Gloria  in  Excelsis.”  “ When  thou  hadst  overcome  the 
sharpness  of  Death  thou  didst  open  the  kingdom  of  heaven  to 
all  believers,”  is  its  echo  in  the  Te  Deum.  “ By  Thine  agony 


A Basis  of  Unity. 


7 


and  bloody  sweat,  by  thy  cross  and  passion,  by  thy  precious 
death  and  burial,”  is  the  sinner’s  only  claim  to  salvation. 

But  if  we  would  know  all  the  fullness  with  which  the  prayer 
book  sets  forth  the  propitiatory  sacrifice  for  sin  by  the  blood 
of  Christ,  we  must  turn  to  the  most  sacred  and  precious  of 
all  its  offices  “ the  order  for  the  administration  of  the  Supper 
of  the  Lord.”  Language  seems  powerless  to  convey  its  sense 
of  the  infinite  preciousness  of  the  Redeemer’s  sacrifice.  At 
each  notice  of  the  celebration  of  this  sacred  feast,  the  minister 
is  to  remind  the  recipient  that  it  is  “in  remembrance  of  His 
meritorious  cross  and  passion  whereby  alone  we  obtain  remis- 
sion of  our  sins.”  In  the  exhortation  preceding  the  office  of 
consecration,  he  is  to  bid  them  give  thanks  to  God  “ for  the 
redemption  of  the  world  by  the  death  and  passion  of  our 
Saviour  Christ,  both  God  and  man,  who  did  humble  himself 
even  to  the  death  of  the  cross  for  us  miserable  sinners.”  As 
he  kneels  before  the  Holy  Table,  he  prays  “ that  our  sinful 
bodies  may  be  made  clean  by  His  body  and  our  souls  washed 
through  His  most  precious  blood.”  And  more  significant  than 
all,  he  is  bidden  to  declare  that  upon  the  cross,  Jesus  Christ 
“ made  a full,  perfect  and  sufficient  sacrifice,  oblation  and 
satisfaction  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world.” 

Blessed  testimony  to  a blessed  truth!  Hqw  sublimely 
does  this  volume  witness  to  this  “old  path,”  this  “ good  way” 
of  salvation,  in  a day  when  men  would  take  from  the  Gospel 
its  very  life-blood,  by  seeking  to  eliminate  the  truth  of  Christ’s 
vicarious  sacrifice.  Let  us  thank  God  that  its  ceaseless  utter- 
ance is,  “ Behold  the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the 
sin  of  the  world  ! ” 

3.  Again,  is  the  plenary  inspiration  of  Holy  Scripture  a 
vital  truth,  essential  to  the  very  being  of  the  Faith  ? It  is 
recognized  and  acknowledged  throughout  the  whole  frame- 
work of  the  Liturgy.  The  prayer  book  honors  the  Word  of 
God  as  it  is  honored  in  no  other  volume  on  earth.  “ Hear 
what  comfortable  words  our  Saviour  Christ  saith:”  “hear 
what  the  Holy  Ghost  saith,”  is  its  repeated  utterance  as  it 
echoes  the  teachings  of  Holy  Scripture.  Here  is  no  doubting, 
hesitating  acknowledgment  of  the  plenary  inspiration  of  the 
Bible.  And  now,  more  than  ever,  we  prize  this  testimony 
when  recreant  sons  of  our  Mother  Church  in  England  have 


8 


The  Prayer  Booh 


risen  up  to  assail  this  pillar  of  the  truth.  Never  can  such  false 
teaching  widely  prevail  among  men  using  this  book,  which 
bid  them  pray,  “Blessed  Lord,  who  hath  caused  all  Holy 
Scripture  to  be  written  for  our  learning.  ’ ’ Or  again,  4 4 Oh, 
God,  who  hast  instructed  thy  Church  b}^  the  heavenly  doctrine 
of  the  Evangelists,  give  us  grace  that,  being  not  like  children 
carried  away  by  every  blast  of  vain  doctrine,  we  may  be  estab- 
lished in  the  truths  of  thy  Holy  Gospel.” 

Time  forbids  us  to  go  further  into  this  investigation,  deeply 
interesting  as  it  might  prove.  W e might  take  successively  other 
vital  and  central  truths,  dear  to  the  hearts  of  God’s  people  in 
all  time,  and  show  how  each  is  incorporated  into  the  very  life 
of  devotion.  Thus  the  truth  of  man’ s ruined  nature,  the  office 
and  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  *in  the  renewal  and  sanctification 
of  the  heart,  justification  by  faith,  44  only  for  the  merits  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ” — 44  a most  wholesome  doc- 
trine, and  very  full  of  comfort” — these  are  every  where  in- 
wrought  into  the  texture  of  this  book. 

This,  then,  is  our  first  argument.  If  to  pray  aright  we  need 
to  pray  44  with  the  spirit  and  the  understanding  also,”  and  if 
all  the  primal  and  essential  doctrines  of  salvation  are  brought 
to  the  heart  as  blessed  realities,  and  made  the  very  flame  of 
devotion  by  him  who  worships  God  in  the  order  of  this  book, 
is  it  not  eminently  worthy  of  the  high  office  we  claim  for  it  to 
lead  the  devotions  of  all  who  would  4 4 worship  in  spirit  and 
in  truth?” 

II.  We  advance  to  another  position.  The  prayer  book  is 
fitted  to  unite  all  reformed  communions,  because  it  enshrines 
most  faithfully  the  true  spirit  of  the  reformation. 

The  book  of  common  prayer  is  the  fairest  and  most  beaute- 
ous child  of  the  great  Reformation.  It  is  a blessed  monument 
of  God’s  goodness  to  His  Church,  in  bringing  her  great  deliv- 
erance after  long  ages  of  bondage  and  darkness.  It  is  the 
precious  casket  in  which  are  laid  up  the  spoils  of  the  mightiest 
conflict  waged  with  the  powers  of  darkness,  since  the  fathers 
of  Christendom  fell  asleep,  for  44  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.” 

How  wonderously  can  we  trace  the  hand  of  God  in  the 
agencies  and  instruments  employed  in  the  accomplishment  of 
this  work  ! First  came  the  44  Reformers  before  the  Reforma- 
tion,” Wicliffe  and  his  brotherhood,  sowing  in  tears  the  seed 
for  a harvest  to  be  reaped  in  joy  by  others.  Then  followed  in 
God’s  good  time,  Cranmer  and  his  co-laborers,  Jewel,  and 
Latimer,  and  Ridley,  and  others  whose  names  will  never  die  : 
first  in  1564  only  permitted  to  translate  the  prayers  and  the 
litany  into  the  English  tongue ; next,  under  Edward  YI, 
setting  forth  the  first  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  drawn  up  in 


A Basis  of  Unity. 


9 


the  words  of  the  royal  decree,  “ according  to  the  most  sincere 
and  pure  Christian  religion  taught  by  Scripture,  and  according 
to  the  usages  of  the  Primitive  Church.” 

Then  came  the  memorable  Whitsunday  of  1549,  when  for 
the  first  time  the  reformed  liturgy  led  the  worship  of  a whole 
realm,  rejoicing  in  “ the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  had  made 
them  free.”  Soon,  indeed,  under  another  reign,  there  returned 
for  a season  a night  of  superstition,  to  be  followed  only  by  a 
more  glorious  day,  whose  meridian  brightness  other  genera- 
tions are  yet  to  behold. 

But  what  a history  is  condensed  into  the  few  sentences  just 
uttered  ! What  prayers  and  sacrifices,  what  patient  waiting 
and.  suffering,  what  stripes  and  imprisonments,  what  burnings 
at  the  stake  were  needed  to  win  for  the  church  of  the  future, 
the  glorious  heritage  of  this  book  ! And  the  great  principle 
which  guided  the  English  reformers  was  that  enjoined  in  the 
text ; they  sought  to  find  “ the  old  paths  ” — “ the  good  way  ” 
of  the  Church  in  its  days  of  primitive  purity. 

Isaac  Walton  tells  us  that  when  Sir  Henry  Wotton  was 
present  at  a church  festival  in  the  city  of  Jtome,  and  listening 
to  strains  of  exquisite  music,  a priest,  thinking  the  time  a 
favorable  one  to  win  him  over  to  the  Romish  faith,  sent  to  him 
a note  with  this  question  : “ Where  was  your  religion  before 

Luther?”  To  which  question  Sir  Henry  presently  under- 
wrote : “ My  religion  was  to  be  found  then,  where  yours  is 

not  to  be  found  now,  in  the  Word  of  God.”  The  work  of 
reformation  at  which  the  martyrs  and  confessors  of  the  English 
Church  labored,  and  which  hundreds  among  them  sealed  with 
their  blood,  was  not  the  work  of  constructing  a new  system, 
but  of  restoring  the  old  to  its  lost  purity.  They  were  like 
men  who  went  forth  to  cleanse  and  restore  some  grand  old 
cathedral,  whose  windows  were  darkened  by  the  accumulated 
dust  of  ages,  whose  courts  were  defiled  with  uncleanness,  and 
whose  altars  were  polluted  with  strange  fire  ; and  their  work 
was  to  clear  away  the  heaps  of  rubbish,  to  kindle  a new  and 
holy  fire  on  its  altar,  to  fill  its  courts  with  the  incense  of  a 
pure  devotion,  and  to  let  in  the  unobscured  glad  sunlight  of 
truth,  filling  and  flooding  its  whole  vast  area. 

Such  was  the  work  which  bequeathed  to  us  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  combining  the  “old  paths”  of  the  Apos- 
tolic Church,  and  the  “good  way”  of  the  Great  Reformation. 
May  we  not  safely  challenge  any  portion  of  reformed  Christ- 
endom to  produce  in  any  confession  or  symbol,  or  formulary 
of  devotion,  that  which  represents  so  faithfully  the  spirit  of 
that  great  movement.  Hear  the  grand  and  stately  protest  of  the 
Articles  of  Religion,  as  for  three  hundred  years  they  have 
borne  their  solemn  witness  against  transubstantiation,  purga- 


10 


The  Prayer  Book 


tory,  pardons,  the  worshiping  and  adoration  of  images  and 
relics,  the  invocation  of  saints,  the  denial  of  the  cup  to  the 
laity,  the  use  of  prayers  in  a strange  tongue,  the  five  added 
and  spurious  sacraments,  the  requiring  any  thing  to  be 
believed  as  necessary  to  salvation  ‘ ‘ which  is  not  read  in  holy 
Scripture  nor  may  be  proved  thereby,”  and  then  remember 
that  the  authors  of  this  protest  gladly  laid  down  their  lives  in 
its  defense,  and  sealed  it  with  their  blood. 

We  are  not  unmindful  of  the  retort  that  may  be  made,  that 
not  a few,  trained  under  all  the  influences  of  this  book,  and 
familiar  with  all  the  hallowed  memories  which  consecrate  it, 
have  found  their  way  back  to  the  altars  of  a corrupt  and 
idolatrous  church,  even  while  the  language  of  the  Liturgy  yet 
lingered  on  their  lips.  But  we  lay  hold  of  the  very  objection 
to  strengthen  our  position.  The  perverted  religiousness  of  the 
human  heart,  which  hungers  for  a sensuous  worship  and  an- 
other gospel,  can  find  no  satisfaction  in  the  simple  scriptural 
worship  of  this  book.  A pure  and  apostolic  Church  affords 
no  abiding  place  for  such  a spirit.  “ They  went  out  from  us 
because  they  were  not  of  us.”  They  go  forth  to  bear  witness 
that,  whilst  this  Liturgy  remains  intact,  it  will  prove  a mighty 
breakwater  to  save  the  Church  of  Christ  from  ever  again  being 
devastated  by  the  floods  of  superstition  and  idolatry. 

III.  Again,  we  claim  this  high  position  for  the  prayer  book, 
because  it  is  committed  to  no  human  system  of  theology,  but 
is  broad  enough  and  comprehensive  enough  to  embrace  men 
who  differ  widely  in  their  interpretations  and  definitions  of 
scriptural  truth. 

It  is  indeed  a peculiar  glory  of  the  prayer  book  that  it  is 
marked  by  the  ‘ ‘ elastic  tenderness  of  a nurse  who  takes  into 
account  the  varying  temperaments  and  dispositions  of  child- 
ren ; ” not  by  the  rigid  precision  of  an  imperious  taskmaster, 
who  would  prostrate  into  a procrustean  bed  all  the  varieties  of 
human  feeling  and  human  conscience.  It  bears  upon  its  very 
fore-front  Augustine’s  motto  : “In  essentials,  unity  ; in  non- 
essentials,  liberty  ; in  all  things,  charity.”  They  who  framed 
the  Liturgy  recognized  the  truth,  that  their  work  was  not  for 
a day,  but  for  all  time  ; not  for  a nation  or  a denomination, 
but  for  a great  Catholic  Church,  which,  in  Gf od’ s good  time, 
might  be  co-extensive  with  the  earth. 

Hence  they  were  careful  that  its  doctrinal  teachings  should 
be  set  forth  only  as  the  Bible  sets  them  forth,  and  as  they 
were  embodied  in  ancient  creeds  and  liturgies,  purified  from 
all  the  errors  which  were  the  growth  of  a later  and  darker  age. 
They  called  no  man  master  on  earth.  They  followed  not  Au- 
gustine, nor  Luther,  nor  Calvin,  but  Christ  and  his  Apostles. 


A Basis  of  Unity. 


11 


Hence  the  theology  of  the  prayer  book  is  not  the  confession 
of  Augsburg,  nor  that  of  the  Synod  of  Dort,  nor  yet  of  the 
Westminster  Assembly.  It  is  not  Lutheranism,  nor  Calvinism, 
nor  Arminianism.  But  better  than  all,  it  embraces  all  that  is 
precious  and  of  vital  truth  in  each  of  these  systems,  yet  com- 
mitting itself  to  none  ; and  a disciple  of  each  of  these  schools 
may  find  in  it  that  which  gives  “rest  to  his  soul.” 

Does  the  follower  of  Calvin  find  the  doctrine  of  election  a 
4 4 doctrine  full  of  sweet,  pleasant  and  unspeakable  comfort  to 
the  soul  of  a godly  person?”  So  teaches  the  seventeenth 
article  of  Religion  of  the  Prayer  Book.  Does  the  Arminian 
hold  nothing  to  be  more  vital  and  essential  than  the  doctrine 
of  the  free,  unlimited,  unrestricted  offer  of  salvation  to  all 
mankind  ? He  finds  it  running  like  a silver  thread  through 
all  the  texture  of  these  beauteous  garments  of  the  Bride  of 
Christ.  Does  the  Wesleyan  regard  it  as  the  blessed  privilege 
of  a child  of  God  to  know  God  as  a reconciled  father,  who,  in 
Christ,  has  put  away  his  sins,  and  given  him  joy  and  peace  in 
believing  ? Where  else  is  such  a truth  so  fully  recognized  as 
in  those  seraphic  strains  of  devotion  which  lift  the  soul  into 
holy  communion  with  God,  and  cause  it  to  realize  its  accept- 
ance in  the  beloved  ? Does  the  Lutheran  place  a high  value 
upon  the  worthy  partaking  of  the  sacrament  of  Christ’ s body 
and  blood  ? Surely  the  lofty  glowing  language  of  the  commu- 
nion office  is  fitted  to  meet  the  deepest  longings  of  the  soul  as 
it  feeds  on  Christ  in  the  heart  by  faith  with  thanksgiving. 

Are  not  these  facts  evidence  that  the  system  of  the  prayer 
book  is  the  system  of  the  Bible  ? This  is  the  boast,  this  is  the 
honor  of  our  church.  Let  her  willingly  submit  to  the  igno- 
rant reproach  that  men  of  every  creed  can  find  in  her  something 
to  favor  their  views,  while  she  shares  this  reproach  with  the 
Word  of  God.  It  is  this  fact  which  fits  her  for  universality. 
In  this  fact  is  found  her  chief  power. 

IV.  Once  more  : In  claiming  for  the  prayer  book  that  it  is 
fitted  to  be  a basis  of  unity  to  all  Christians,  we  claim  for  it 
what  the  experience  of  centuries  has  confirmed,  that  it  is  emi- 
nently adapted  to  unfold  and  nourish  the  spiritual  life  of  the 
believer. 

Where  is  the  longing  of  the  soul  which  it  does  not  satisfy  ? 
Where  the  craving  it  does  not  appease  ? Where  the  deepest 
experience  of  the  love  of  God  which  finds  not  here  an  appro- 
priate utterance  ? Where  the  contrition  which  cannot  unbur- 
den itself  in  its  penitential  pleadings  ? What  soul-sorrow  finds 
not  fitting  expression?  What  soul-rapture  may  not  find  wingS 
for  its  heavenward  flight  in  these  anthems  worthy  to  be  chanted 
by  cherubim  and  seraphim  ? 


12 


The  Prayer  Booh 


Here  we  advance  our  argument  to  a high  position  indeed. 
W e claim  that  the  voice  of  three  hundred  years  bears  testimony 
to  the  truth  that  the  prayer  book  is  eminently  fitted  to  develop 
and  nourish  the  very  loftiest  type  of  spiritual  piety.  We  are 
willing  to  test  it  by  its  fruits  in  the  lives  of  the  faithful.  And 
just  as  the  course  of  a stream  may  be  traced  at  a distance  by 
the  luxuriant  skirt  of  trees  lining  its  banks  and  fed  by  its 
waters,  so  through  all  the  lapse  of  three  centuries  may  we 
trace  the  windings  of  this  river  that  makes  glad  the  city  of  our 
God  by  the  trees  of  righteousness,  the  saints  of  lofty  stature, 
whose  roots  found  rich  nourishment  in  its  living  fountains. 

The  monks  of  the  middle  ages  spent  almost  a lifetime  in 
illuminating,  by  curious  skill  of  the  pencil,  the  Missal  and  the 
Breviary  ; but  what  an  illuminated  edition  of  the  prayer  book 
would  it  be,  could  we  gather  around  it  the  lives  of  the  elect 
and  saintly  spirits  who  have  been  nourished  at  its  rich  banquet 
of  spiritual  food!  It  will  well  repay  us  to  walk  with  reverent 
step  and  admiring  hearts  along  the  far-stretching  galleries  of 
the  Church’  s history,  and  pause  before  the  portraits  of  men 
and  women  whose  names  are  dear  to  all  God’s  people,  and 
who  may  be  justly  claimed  as  living  epistles,  witnessing  to 
the  power  and  preciousness  of  this  book.  “ Come  and  see” 
is  our  reply  to  him  who  would  depreciate  the  Liturgy,  and 
tell  us  that  its  tendency  is  to  deaden  spirituality  and  to  make 
formal,  lifeless  Christians.  “Come  and  see”  the  saints  of 
lofty  stature,  the  men  and  women  of  lofty  holiness,  the  mighty 
wrestlers  with  God,  the  meek  and  lowly  followers  of  the  Lamb, 
whose  names  and  works  are  now  the  heritage  of  all  Christen- 
dom, and  whose  lives  are  most  truly  the  fruits  of  prayer  book 
nurture. 

To  what  sphere  of  faithful  service  for  Christ  can  we  turn 
without  meeting  a cloud  of  witnesses  to  this  truth  ? Is  it  among 
those  who  “ resisted  unto  blood”  for  the  precious  truth  of  the 
gospel  ? What  venerable  and  saintly  forms  are  those  which 
pass  before  us,  girded  for  the  sacrifice,  and  chanting,  “ This  is 
the  day  the  Lord  hath  made  ; this  is  the  way,  narrow  though 
it  be,  yet  full  of  the  peace  of  God,  and  leading  to  eternal 
bliss?”  Need  I tell  you?  They  are  Ridley  and  Latimer, 
Cranmer  and  Bradford,  Rogers  and  Philpot  and  Taylor,  on 
their  way  to  the  stake,  to  swell  “ the  noble  army  of  martyrs ! ” 

Is  it  among  great  doctors  and  masters  and  learned  theolo- 
gians, whose  writings  form  the  stately  buttresses  defending  and 
upholding  the  temple  of  truth  ? Where  shall  we  find  names 
more*  august  than  that  of  the  Church  of  England’s  great 
apologist,  Jewel,  whose  piety  was  as  profound  as  his  learning, 
and  of  whose  departure  it  has  been  ^beautifully  said  by  his 
biographer,  Walton,  that  “it  was  a question  whether  his  last 


A Basis  of  Unity. 


13 


ejaculations  or  his  soul  did  first  enter  paradise  ?” — or  the  in- 
comparable Hooker,  whose  meekness  and  heavenly  minded- 
ness we  are  apt  to  forget  amidst  the  bright  shining  of  his 
wondrous  intellect— or  the  myriad  minded  Jeremy  Taylor,  or 
Stillingfleet,  or  Chilling  worth,  or  Barrow,  colossal  champions 
of  the  reformed  faith. 

Is  it  among  true  hearted  and  faithful  and  holy  pastors  ? 
What  beauteous  pictures  are  those  that  live  in  our  memories  of 
the  life  of  the  saintly  Leighton,  of  whom  Burnet  said,  after 
an  intimacy  of  more  than  twenty-two  years,  4 4 I never  once  saw 
him  in  any  other  temper  but  that  in  which  I wished  to  be  in  the 
last  moment  of  my  life  ; ” — of  the  simple-minded  and  gentle 
country  parson  of  Bemerton,  whose  dying  request  was,  4 4 read 
me  the  prayers  of  my  mother,  the  Church  of  England  : there 
are  no  prayers  like  them;” — of  the  home  and  the  flock  of 
Leigh  Richmond  in  the  beauteous  Isle  of  Wight,  where  the 
grave  of  the  Dairyman’s  Daughter,  a prayer-book  Christian, 
is  a spot  sacred  to  the  heart  of  millions  who  have  wept  over 
her  touching  story  ; — of  the  lives  and  labors  of  Tillotson  and 
Ken,  of  Usher  and  Hall,  of  Simeon  and  Cecil,  of  Newton  and 
Yen. 

Shall  we  seek  among  the  sweet  singers  of  the  Church  for 
traces  of  its  influence?  Where  but  at  these  fountains  did 
Cowper,  and  Charles  Wesley,  and  Wordsworth,  and  Keble 
drink  in  inspiration  ? 

Passing  to  the  noble  sphere  of  a world-embracing  philan- 
throphy,  whose  names  are  enshrined  so  sacredly  in  the  hearts 
of  all  good  men,  as  those  two  prayer  book  Christians,  one 
whose  last  request  was,  44  lay  me  quietly  in  my  grave,  place  a 
sun-dial  over  my  breast,  and  let  me  be  forgotten,”  and  yet 
whose  statue  in  St.  Paul’s  Cathedral  bears  the  name  of  John 
Howard,  and  the  other,  who  sleeps  in  Westminster  Abbey  by 
the  side  of  Pitt  and  Burke,  and  Canning  and  Sheridan,  his 
compeers,  yet  greater  than  them  all — William  Wilberforce? 
Or,  rising  to  the  highest  field  of  holy  labors,  whose  names 
shine  out  against  the  darkness  of  heathenism  so  bright  as 
those  of  Martyn,  of  Heber,  of  Selwyn,  and  a host  like-minded, 
who  found  in  this  book  strength  and  holy  inspiration  ? 

By  its  fruits  is  the  tree  known ; and  by  its  fruits  let  the 
prayer  book  be  tested.  Is  it  presumption  then  to  claim  for  it 
a fitness  to  be  the  prayer  book  of  all  Protestant  Christendom, 
to  bind  together  in  one  great  Christian  family  those  now 
divided  and  discordant  ? 

W ill  it  be  said  that  it  is  in  vain  to  hope  for,  to  pray  for,  to 
labor  for  such  a result  ? Nay,  not  so  : there  is  a yearningfor 
unity,  deep-seated  and  wide-spread,  which  can  only  come 
from  above,  and  which  stirs  the  noblest  among  us  to  heroic 


14 


The  Prayer  Book  a Basis  of  Unity. 


action.  What  a sublime  thought  that  this  is  the  work  God 
has  committed  to  us,  whose  birthright  is  this  heritage — to 
restore  the  long-lost  unity  of  Protestant  Christendom  upon 
the  basis  of  the  prayer-book  ! To  grasp  this  thought  in  all  its 
fullness  would  of  itself  elevate  the  Church  to  a status  never 
yet  attained  in  this  generation.  It  would  heal  every  division, 
and  hush  every  voice  of  strife  among  ourselves  into  silence. 
It  would  animate  us  to  the  noblest  endeavors  after  a character 
becoming  a position  of  honor  and  responsibility  such  as  this. 
It  would  incite  to  noble  deeds  of  piety,  noble  works  of  love, 
to  prove  to  all  men  what  mighty  power  for  good,  God  has 
entrusted  to  His  Church.  It  would  restrain  all  harsh  judg- 
ment and  condemnation  of  those  whom  we  seek  to  bring  into 
our  heritage.  And  its  voice  of  love  would  ever  be  to  all  who 
profess  and  call  themselves  Christians,  “ Stand  in  the  ways 
and  see  and  ask  for  the  old  paths,  where  is  the  good  way,  and 
walk  therein,  and  ye  shall  find  rest  to  your  souls.’’  “Come 
and  sit  down  with  us  at  this  feast  of  fat  things.  Come  and 
share  our  inheritance.  Come  back  under  the  shelter  of  the 
old  roof-tree  of  our  Father’s  house.  Come  with  us  and  we 
will  do  you  good,  for  the  Lord  hath  spoken  good  concerning 
Israel.” 

Oh  ! blessed  vision  of  the  Church  of  the  future,  as  it  -rises 
before  me  do-day,  a city  at  unity  in  itself ; its  strength  no 
longer  wasted  in  intestine  warfare,  but  combined  against  a 
common  foe,  going  forth  from  conquering  unto  conquest,  fair 
as  the  sun,  beauteous  as  the  moon,  and  terrible  as  an  army 
with  banners. 


THE  END. 


